


The Darkness Hummed

by amateurexorcist



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Human Experimentation, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hydra (Marvel), Kidnapped Peter Parker, Light-Hearted Clint Barton Bashing, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Poor Peter Parker, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Psychological Torture, Sensory Deprivation, bucky is a big fan of claire from bon appetit kitchen, canon? never heard of her, in the form of bucky getting mad at him for taking brownies before theyve cooled, no beta were gonna die, not ANYTHING compliant tbh, somebody help them, still cant believe thats its own tag, the avengers all but adopt peter, when in doubt title ur fic after a hozier song amiright?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21739678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amateurexorcist/pseuds/amateurexorcist
Summary: Natasha liked Peter. He was a smart kid, sure he lacked common sense but he still was intelligent. And he was also kind, and polite. And far too selfless and brave for his own good.So that was why she was absolutely prepared to flay several Hydra agents alive.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 17
Kudos: 188





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "in the woods somewhere" by hozier
> 
> so uh. fuck canon i guess. it makes me feel sad. so a lot of stuff straight up didnt happen in this fic, and civil war didnt happen but things are still tense to make up for it. and they still use the avengers tower for plot reasons, mostly bc its waaaay closer to Queens than upstate ny is so its easier for peter to go there. Honestly most of canon is void in this fic leave me be.

Natasha had a handful of vices but one vice above all.

And that was coffee.

Whether it was day, night, or anything in between, it wasn't uncommon to see her with a steaming mug. In fact, it was a rare occurrence for her to be seen without one. It was just normal.

Which was why she was absently wandering to the common room kitchen on a Friday evening. Normally, she would just use the coffeemaker in her room, but it had run out of water, and she couldn't be bothered to refill it. So she went into the common area instead, and that was the reason why she was the first one to notice a kid.

When she saw him, she honestly had to do a double take. Because there he was. A kid in his mid-teens, sitting at the kitchen counter, eating a very large portion of Kraft mac-and-cheese straight out of the pot like it was the most normal thing in the world. It was a truly absurd amount too, it looked like two boxes at minimum, but she'd place her bet on three. He also was wearing some kind of weird, matching black bracelets. One on each wrist. Was it some kind of fashion choice?

He had his back to her, and by all means he shouldn't have known she was coming. She was a trained spy and assassin, after all. But the kid jolted upright and spun around, like he'd been stung.

"Oh! Hi" The kid didn't look afraid. Nervous sure, but primarily excited. Who was he? "Hi Miss Black Widow ma'am."

She frowned in confusion. "Who are you?"

"Um- uh. I'm Peter. Peter Parker. Mr Stark's personal intern. Its really nice to meet you Agent Natasha ma'am."

She paused. Natasha was pretty sure that Stark _had_ mentioned an intern at some point. And there was no other way a random teenager could be in the Avengers Tower. And to be honest, the way he seemed to be so genuinely eager and nervous to meet her was adorable. She could see why Stark kept the pipsqueak around.

"That's a lot of mac-and-cheese."

"Oh uh-" He paused, glancing at the pot. "Oh yeah. I forgot to eat lunch today and I have a crazy metabolism, so Mr. Stark made me go and eat something."

"First of all." She snorted, but was unable to hide her smile. "Eat lunch, kid. You're too young to go skipping meals. Secondly, that is such a Tony move I can't even-."

Peter paused. "What is?"

"Him making you go eat, when he's arguably just as bad at taking care of himself. If not worse." She chuckled, cuffing the kid on the shoulder. "Its a Tony move."

"I- guess it is like him to do that. FRIDAY is always trying to get him to eat more food and to have him drink more water." Peter glanced back at his pasta.

She laughed a bit at that. "Well, I can't judge him for that water bit. I'm awful." Partially to prove her point, and partially because she had come to the kitchen for a reason after all, she went over to the coffee machine.

The water heated up very quickly, and there were a couple dozen options for how she wanted her coffee. It was Stark's stuff after all, it always would be needlessly fancy. She got her usual, a dark roast with no cream or sweeter, she did like coffee for its flavor after all, and the trimmings would only get in the way.

The coffee was made quickly, as always, so she plopped down with a fresh cup across from Peter.

"So." She took a long sip of her coffee. "Tony sure can be insufferable when you have to work with him, can't he?"

"What-" Peter froze, a forkful of mac-and-cheese halfway to his mouth. It looked too orange, she guessed that he had mixed either ketchup or hot sauce into it. "No, of course not! I like working with Mr. Stark!"

"Are you trying to turn my intern against me, Natasha?"

She turned to look at Stark, he leaned up against the wall next to the elevator.

"No. I'm just asking if he's found you annoying yet. Because you are." She leaned back, taking yet another sip of her coffee.

"Well. That's my defining personality trait."

"Mr. Stark!" Peter dropped the fork.

"Oh my God, he's so precious. Tony where did you find this kid?" She glanced back at him. Stark's grin faltered, but he tried to hide it. Unfortunately for him, Natasha didn't miss something like that. Stark was hiding something. 

"I honestly just ran into him one day, and he knew science stuff."

Natasha gave him her best _look._

"Its the truth!"

"Alright, alright." She lifted her hands in defeat. "I believe you." She still didn't.

Peter had watched the whole exchange with wide, curious eyes. She gave him a smile. "Eat your pasta, kid." Natasha stood up with her coffee, and made her way back to her rooms.

Something about him was swimming in the back of her mind. Something familiar and suspicious. She'd definitely heard Peter's voice somewhere before.

Natasha couldn't quite put her finger on it. Where did she hear him from? It had to have been in the last year or so, no longer than that.

She knew that there was no point in chasing the vague whispers around in her head. It would get her nowhere. But still, it seemed to hang just out of reach. The distraction kept her busy the whole night, and she still didn't have it.

Bucky liked to bake.

There was something to it, something about it that helped him maintain control and composure. Something about the way that mixing everything together perfectly got the perfect result. And it also produced desserts, so that was always good. The food tasted good, and if Bucky was being completely honest his baking was probably one of the deciding factors on his trustworthiness in the eyes of more than one Avenger.

Not that he was complaining.

It just felt weird to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the only reason Clint Barton trusted him was because he made a good chocolate lava cake.

He was reclining on a couch in the common area, watching a video on a Starkpad while he waited for his brownies to cool. He knew better than to leave the common area before they cooled, otherwise someone, a certain someone who's name started with a C- and ended with a -lint Barton, would try to take some while they were still hot and mess up the whole tray.

Bucky was happy to stay focused on the video he was watching. It was both about baking _and_ funny. He really did like those... He believed Clint had called them 'YouTube videos'? Either way they were good, and Claire was funny and a good chef, and Bucky wanted to be like Claire.

He heard the elevator slide open. Two people were having a conversation, Stark and someone he didn't recognize. He fully intended to just ignore them until-

"Hey look, someone made brownies."

Bucky lurched off of the couch as he paused the video. He spun on his heel to face Stark and the stranger, which was apparently a teenager. "Don't touch the brownies."

It only then occurred to him that they wouldn't have been able to see him from where they had been. He felt a small flicker of guilt when Stark jumped and put a hand over his heart. But the kid didn't seem startled at all, he just gave him a bit of a glance.

"Fucking- Christ, Barnes." Stark wheezed, bending over a bit. "You can't fucking sneak up on people."

"That's two swears for the swear jar, Mr. Stark." The kid snarked with shit-eating grin.

"I swear to God Peter-"

"Hey! I'm not the one who made the swear jar. That was Miss Potts."

Stark audibly groaned.

"Uh-" Bucky stuttered. The two looked at him. "So who's the kid?"

"This is Peter." Stark angled his body so his shoulder jutted between Peter and Bucky. It was something small, by a fraction of an inch. But with his training, Bucky noticed it. Stark still hadn't begun to trust him. "My intern."

"...You can have the brownies, by the way. Just wait ten more minutes for them to cool, otherwise they'll get messed up when you cut them." Bucky said slowly. "Okay?"

Steve checked his phone when it went off.

**_Sneaky gang (and steve)_ **

_Bucky: I just watched Stark's intern eat an entire tray of brownies. I'm terrified._

_Steve: What's so freaky about that?_

_Bucky: It was a 16 x 16 tray and the brownies went three inches deep. That's 768 cubic inches of brownie. And he's just standing there like that's a normal thing to eat._

_Steve: Oh._

_Bucky: Not even Clint was able to do that. And you know how he acts around chocolate._

_Clint: Guilty as charged._

_Queen Nat: I met him last week, he was eating like three boxes of Kraft._

_Queen Nat: He also like. Heard me coming. Which was weird._

_Bucky: Oh yeah. He knew I was there when he wasn't able to see me._

_Clint: What the fuck?_

_Bucky: Yeah. I was on the couch in the common room, watching Bon Appétit with earbuds._

_Steve: Oh._

_Clint: Is Tony's intern a robot or smth?_

_Queen Nat: Why would a robot need to eat food?_

_Clint: Good point.  
_

_Clint: What the fuck fuck what the fuc_

_Queen Nat: Clint?_

_Steve: Clint??_

_Bucky: Clint are you okay?_

_Clint: holy shit what the fuck_

Steve stood up abruptly, keeping his eyes on the phone.

_Queen Nat: Are you okay? Are you in your room?_

_Clint: am now_

_Clint: that kid knew i was in the vents what the fuck_

_Queen Nat: You were in the vents??_

_Clint: Unrelated reasons, I was going to steal brownies. But he knew I was there._

_Bucky: So you admit to your crime?_

_Clint: You do make the best brownies._

_Bucky: >:(_

_Queen Nat: Did Bucky Barnes, trained assassin, super soldier, and Avenger, just use an emoticon?_

_Clint: I took a screenshot. The internet must know._

_Bucky: The internet will **not** know, Clint. _

_Clint: If this is how I die, I will die satisfied._

Steve sighed and let his phone fall to his bed. Idiots. He failed to suppress a small chuckle though, there _were_ _his_ idiots after all. They were one big, weird, dysfunctional family. He smiled up at the ceiling as he felt the phone buzz again, he checked it.

_Clint: Back into the vents I go woowoo_

_Bucky: I too can go into vents, bird boy._

_Clint: aaaaAAAA_

Bucky: FUCK

Steve snorted and tapped a response.

_Steve: Language._

_Clint: WHAT EVEN IS THIS CHILD_

_Bucky: I DONT KNOW._

_Queen Nat: What?_

_Clint: WE WERE TWO FUCKING FLOORS ABOVE THAT LAB._

_Queen Nat: What happened?_

_Bucky: I tackled Clint in the vents and apparently the intern heard us, because FRIDAY yelled at us for making a racket. Said we were making too much noise and distracting Stark and his intern while they were working._

_Clint: Well, at least I'm still alive?_

_Clint: Seriously tho what is up with that kid?_

Natasha had stumbled across it on accident. She and Bucky had been joking around in the Lab while Stark and his intern were taking a break in the kitchen.

It was just supposed to be a harmless prank. Natasha balanced carefully on Bucky's shoulders, using him as a stool to hide a small gadget in a ceiling vent. It was supposed to make a small beeping noise at random times, but always at least five minutes apart. It would annoy the shit out of Stark and it would be hilarious.

When all was said and done, she dusted off her hands and hopped off of Bucky, who rolled his shoulders with a grunt. Natasha gave him a cheeky smile.

"We'll see how Stark likes that huh? Show him for that stupid laxative cake." She nudged his metal arm as she spoke, and prepared to leave the room, but before she could something caught her eye.

Sitting on a table was some sort of slim object. It looked like a bracelet, with a small tab pointing off of it that could settle in the palm of the wearer's hand. It was a mesh of smooth black and white plastic and metal, and there was a button on the tab.

"Weird looking thing." She noted, walking over to it. It looked like it could easily fit under someone's clothes. Which was why she decided to poke at it, in case it was another one of Stark's pranks. Natasha picked it up and turned it over. It looked like it was in two separate pieces, and she spotted a switch that let her separate them.

She realized that the black plastic portion was one of Peter's bracelets, and she could see its pair on the table surrounded by loose pieces of plastic and metal. Natasha frowned.

"Could I take a look at that?" Bucky plucked the metal and white plastic part out of her hands and turned it over.

"These are Pete's bracelets." She held it up. "I swear to God if Stark gets him involved in this prank war I'm going to push him off the roof."

"Stark or the kid?" Bucky eyed the button on the tab warily.

"Stark. Who do you take me for?" She set the bracelet down, frowning. Something felt... off.

Bucky pressed the button. The man let out a yelp of surprise when something white and stringy squirted him in the face. Natasha let out a snort of amusement, a smile ghosting her lips.

"Nat." He looked her in the eyes. He wasn't smiling, or laughing. He looked serious. "It's stuck."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the fluff will go away soon folks, savor it while you can 
> 
> also!! my babs matt and jessica!! I love them! I only just started watching their shows so... some of their canons are a bit void lol. sorry no luke cage or danny rand, i just... dont know what to do with them
> 
> also. peter's briefly mentioned quips were based off of things he says in Insomniac's spider-man game, because I can't get enough of it

"It's stuck?" Natasha parroted. Bucky tugged on the material, but it stayed firmly attached to his face. Much more concerningly, it then became stuck to his hand.

It was a shade of off-white, and slightly opaque. It grew more transparent the further it got from the center. Like... Oh what was that candy she had tried once? Fairy floss was it? Yes, fairy floss.

Back onto the matter at hand, Natasha inhaled deeply.

"Okay... Okay." She lifted her hands placatingly. "Let's stay calm. Do you think it might be water soluble?"

"Why would I know." He croaked. "What even is this stuff?"

"Try just... Giving a yank? You do have super-strength."

Bucky nodded, and thankfully the material did give way, rather than his flesh. But the strange stuff was still stuck to his hand, so now he'd stick to anything he touched.

"I..." Natasha peered at it. She definitely had seen this somewhere before. She remembered it. Hell, not only had she seen this stuff on the internet dozens of times, but she had even gotten to see it in real life once. "So... Bucky. How elastic would you say that stuff is."

"Pretty stretchy, but tough as hell." He pulled his hand away from his face a bit further. "Why?"

"It looks kind of... Like Spider-Man's webs. You've seen those videos on the internet right? That people catch of him sometimes?" Natasha was referencing the occasional time when a bystander or security camera would catch a shot of Spider-Man in action. She reached out a hand, and only stopped when her fingertips were only a few inches away from the material- the webs. She was tempted to touch it, but knew better. Now if _both_ of them were stuck together, that would be just plain awful.

"Oh- yeah you're right." Bucky's face lit up with recognition, before he frowned. "Why would Stark and his intern be building tech for Spider-Man? Or- er." His eyes shifted back to the bracelet still in Natasha's hand. "That... _is_ Peter's bracelet isn't it." 

Natasha only then remembered where she heard Peter's voice from before. It was those same videos that had tipped them off to the substance being webs. Spider-Man was both notorious and famous for his quips and taunts when he was fighting. _"More of you?! Don't worry, form a line, I'll have time to arrest you all."_ And. _"Surprise!"_ Or. _"Gotta be honest, I'm not a fan of Big Pharma, especially back alley Big Pharma."_ Shit.

"Well." She looked up at the ceiling. There was a suspicious stain up there, she wondered what lab accident could have caused it. "Fuck."

"Do you honestly think that Pete could be-" Bucky paused.

"Spider-Man." Natasha finished for him. "I mean... Yeah the general consensus is that The Spider is a bit on the younger side. And when I asked Stark how he met Peter he made a really bullshitty lie. Or a half-truth."

The silence dragged between them for a moment, because neither of them knew what to say. To think, that the kid they had only known for about a month, but one by one had slowly earned the friendship of the entire Avengers team, was actually a vigilante? And vigilantes were technically criminals, so that only made it worse.

"What do we even do with this information?" Natasha whispered.

"I don't kno-"

Of course, that was the exact moment that the doors to the lab slid open.

Stark and Peter were laughing, but it was quickly cut short.

Peter sat on a toilet in the Tower. His backpack was between his knees. He didn't actually have to go, he just needed an excuse for privacy.

He opened the backpack up and moved all of its contents aside. There was a hidden pouch in his backpack that only he knew about. It was situated between two different sections of the bag, so if anyone saw something bulging out they would assume it was just a calculator or something stored in the neighboring pouch.

It was, in fact, roughly the size of a graphing calculator.

The item he pulled out was a simple, rectangular black box with a darkened screen.

The motions to unlock it by now were familiar, down to muscle memory. It didn't take long to open up what he needed.

_S: either of you free? im kinda having a rough time rn_

Three minutes passed. No doubt Mr. Stark would be wondering where he was about now. He hoped one of them would answer soon.

_D: Isn't today lab day_

_S: yeah well shit happens_

_S: by shit i mean romanoff and barnes found my webshooters_

_D: I won't be at my apartment until late and my windows are locked up tight_

_R: free. was planning on just getting drunk today._

_S: thanks r! and you can still just get drunk if you want. ill just be around_

_R: nah im not gonna be a bad role model for u_

_S: axahdguhsbdh r i already get enough of that_

_D: You are killing my text to speech_

_S: sorry_

_D: its okay_

_R: yeah seriously ur free to chill at my place lol_

_S: thanks r!!_

Peter stepped outside the bathroom and glanced up and down the hallway. Nobody was there to see him? Good.

"Hey, FRIDAY?" He looked up at the ceiling. "Tell Mr. Stark I needed to take a walk and clear my head. Maybe sit on some rooftops? I'll be back before sunrise."

"Sure thing, Peter."

He huffed and stuck his hand into his pants pockets. Maybe if he moved fast enough he'd get out of the Tower before anyone noticed?

**Author's Note:**

> why did i make bucky a fan of claire from bon appetit test kitchen?


End file.
